The Australasian Association. 283 



isolation of the poisonous principle in many of our native 

 shrubs. His recent discovery, that the fatty oils treated 

 with analine form alkaloids, also' hints at an important new 

 departure in organic chemistry. His suggestion of the 

 hot-air blow pipe, and of the application of cyanide of pot- 

 assium to the saving of gold, and mauy other practical ap- 

 plications of his chemical knowledge, are distinguished 

 services to science, of which New Zealand should be proud. 

 In connection with the subject of chemistry, there is a point 

 of vast importance to the futur e of the pastoral and agri- 

 cultural interests of -New Zealand, to which attention was 

 directed some years ago by Mr. Pond, of Auckland. That 

 is the rapid deterioration which the soil must be undergo- 

 ing by the steady export of the constituents on which plant 

 and animal life must depend for nourishment. He calcu- 

 lated that in 1883 the intrinsic value of the fixed nitrogen 

 and phosphoric acid and potash sent out annually was 

 £592,000, taking into account the wool and wheat alone. 



Now that we have to add to that the exported carcases 

 of beef and mutton, bones and all, the annual loss must be 

 immensely greater. The proper cure would, of course, be 

 to bring back return cargoes of artificial manure, but even 

 then its application to most of our pastoral lands would be 

 out of the question. I sincerely hope that the problem will 

 be taken in hand by the Agricultural College at Lincoln 

 as a matter deserving of practical study and investigation. 

 I have already referred to several great generalisations 

 which have exercised a powerful influence in advancing 

 science during the period I marked out for review, but so 

 far as influencing the general current of thought, and al- 

 most entirely revolutionising the prevalent notions of scien- 

 tific workers in every department of knowledge, the most 

 potent factor of the period has been termed the doctrine of 

 evolution. The simple conception of the relation of all 

 created things by the bond of continuous inheritance has 

 given life to the dead bones of an accumulated mass of ob- 

 served facts, each valuable in itself, but, as a whole, break- 

 ing down by its own weight. Before this master-key was 



